Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney (17 March 1955-) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-GA 11) from 3 January 1993 to 3 January 1997 (preceding John Linder) and from GA-4 from 3 January 1997 to 3 January 2003 (succeeding Linder and preceding Denise Majette) and from 3 January 2005 to 3 January 2007 (succeeding Majette and preceding Hank Johnson). Biography Cynthia McKinney was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1955, the daughter of Civil Rights movement activist and policeman Billy McKinney. In 1986, her father submitted her name as a write-in candidate for the Georgia state house, and she received 40% of the vote. In 1988, she ran for the same seat and won, and she and her father became the first father and daughter to simultaneously serve in the Georgia state house; in 1991, many state legislators walked out of the State House in protest at McKinney's aggressive criticism of the Gulf War. In 1992, she became the first African-American woman elected to represent Georgia in the US House of Representatives, serving a 64% African-American district. In 1995, the US Supreme Court ruled that her district was gerrymandered due to its boundaries being drawn along racial lines, although she pointed out that the SCOTUS had ignored the fact that Texas' 6th district was 91% white. Her district was redrawn to include all of DeKalb County, but her new district was no less Democratic, and she was re-elected. She garnered additional controversy for her accusations that Al Gore was racist and that George H.W. Bush had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, and she lost her House seat in 2002 after losing the primary to DeKalb County judge Denise Majette. She returned to Congress after winning re-election in 2004, and she criticized the government's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At the end of 2006, she introduced articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush, claiming that he withheld evidence from Congress before launching the Iraq War, that he abused executive privilege, and that he implemented an illegal domestic spying program. Her bill was abandoned before reaching the House Committee on the Judiciary, and, on 29 March 2006, she again became the subject of controversy when she punched a Capitol Police officer in the chest when he attempted to have her go through a metal detector; she had not been wearing the lapel pin clearing her to bypass the metal detector, the officer could not recognize her due to a new hairstyle, and she struck the officer after he attempted to stop her from breaching security. In 2006, she lost re-election to primary challenger Hank Johnson, claiming that the voting machines and media were rigged against her, and she praised leftist South American leaders in her concession speech. She went on to run for President in 2008 as the GPUS nominee, losing with just .12% of the vote. In 2012, she received just 58 write-in votes when she attempted to challenge Johnson for his House seat. Category:1955 births Category:American politicians Category:Americans Category:Politicians Category:African-Americans Category:Protestants Category:Baptists Category:Democratic Party members Category:US Green Party members Category:Georgia Democrats Category:Georgia Greens Category:American socialists Category:Socialists Category:People from Atlanta Category:People from Georgia